Monday, February 20, 2006

We're two for two!

Made it Lakers game #2 on the year last Monday night and the Lake Show struggled their way to an ugly win over the Jazz.

(Sorry about the ultra-late post here. I realize that since this game, the Lakers have already had a pathetic loss to the Hawks and the All-Star weekend in Houston has come and gone.)

The venue this time was the Staples Center, whose slogan is, "The Sports and Entertainment Center of the World." This, of course, is not to be confused with Madison Square Garden, aka "The World's Most Famous Arena."

The game was ugly. Real ugly. And no one was worse than the pathetic, reprehensible, gawd-awful Kwame Brown. In merely the first half of the first quarter, Kwame had at least three dropped passes and two turnovers and was promptly booed off the floor with about four minutes to go in the first. The best part about Kwame imploding so badly so early?

PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME! PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME! WHERE YOU AT? WHERE YOU AT? WHERE YOU AT? WHERE YOU AT? PEANUT BUTTER JELLY AND A BASEBALL BAT! PEANUT BUTTER JELLY AND A BASEBALL BAT!

(Wait, wrong context. Let's try that again.)

BYNUM TIME, BOYYYY!!

That's right. With several minutes to go left in the first quarter, Andrew Bynum entered the game. And we cheered like we never had before. Because as I discovered a few weeks ago, Bynum is a beast. And for all we knew, this was the first time that he had ever played in the first quarter with the Lakers.

Unfortunately in this game, Bynum didn't live up to the hype. Although his line doesn't show it (two-for-two from the field, four boards in 14 1/2 minutes of play), it wasn't too pretty. At one point, in three consecutive Laker possessions, he had a three-second violation, a turnover and then another three-second violation. So Phil fumed a little.

But regardless, he was better than Kwame. Oh yes... he was better than Kwame.

And this got me thinking: Isn't this year (and maybe the next two or three as well) all about getting Bynum some playing time? We all know Kwame sucks and his numbers on the year -- 6.1 ppg, 6.0 rpg -- prove that. So why waste our time on that baggage when Bynum is just as good and will only get better? Seems to make sense to me. Who's with me?

About

Year

IP

ERA

WHIP

K

BB

2006

5.0

5.40

1.80

4

2

2005

72.2

5.33

1.40

61

32

2004

32.2

2.48

1.22

27

15

On December 13, 2003, the Los Angeles Dodgers pulled a coup d'etat in a single trade by swiftly ridding themselves of the Artist Formerly Known as Kevin Brown and landing an unknown Yhency Brazoban. One and a half year and an Eric Gagne blown elbow later, Yhency tempted his way straight to the Dodgers' closer role. Unfortunately, his stint as closer didn't last long, but his spirit is still strong, and it lives on in this blog. For I am the Son of Yhency. (Figuratively speaking, of course.)